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At the early stages of a startup one of the hardest obstacles to
overcome is what I like to call the chicken and egg customer
problem. Initially, you are unable to secure customers because
you don’t have data to prove that your product works. On the
other hand, you are unable to track any user data, because you do
not have customers. Lucky for entrepreneurs, there is a solution
to this painstaking problem: early adopters. An early adopter is
someone who likes the idea of your product or service so much
that they are willing to use it without any proof of concept.
Because these initial customers are your base data source and are
your most loyal customers starting out, it is essential that you
constantly go above and beyond to make your early adopters happy.

As the co-founder of alumni-engagement platform Alumnify, I have had to learn the ins
and outs of creating strong relationships. Here are a few words
of wisdom.

1. Check In constantly. When your early
adopters first use your product it will have bugs or flaws. This
is understandable as your initial product is based on a series of
hypothesis that have yet to be proven. But it can still be
annoying for these early adopters.

The way we have learned to overcome the lack of data is to
constantly check in with our initial test schools about how our
product is performing and how we can make it better. We ask
what’s not working or not helping solve the university’s core
problem and then meticulously study all the data and feedback we
are getting to make the best iterations possible. Your initial
users will appreciate that you understand your product is not
perfect and will stick with you through the initial flaws as long
as you continuously make improvements.

2. Build a relationship outside of work. If
you establish a strong relationship with your early adopters,
they will be your most loyal customers through thick and thin.

We constantly look for ways to engage with our university’s
alumni staff outside of work. One way we’ve been able to
accomplish this is by doing team bonding conferences with our
customers. Most startups focus so much on developing a culture
within their startup that they neglect the importance of
developing a similar relationship with their early adopters. By
switching the roles from customer/seller to being team members
working for the same cause, you protect yourself from the
competition stealing your customers with fancy features and
reduced pricing.

3. Make a lack of customers an advantage. A
lot of startups become disheartened when they find out a
competitor has taken a large share of the market. It’s important
for entrepreneurs to understand that while there are
disadvantages in only having a few clients, there are ways to
turn those disadvantages into key advantages.

One way we do this is by making sure we help out our early
adopters outside of what our product offers. For instance, when
our first client needs help promoting an event or message, we
help spread the word through all of our social-media outlets. If
our early adopters are having trouble coming up with ideas for
alumni events, we join in on the brainstorming and contribute
unique ideas. As we grow, we understand that we will face
challenges having this level of involvement with all of our
customers, but at the end of the day, we would rather have a
small group of loyal customers who will stick with us through the
hard times than a large number of customers who will leave the
first time they are unhappy with our product.